Fishing in Your Market

Daniel Walker of River’s End Consulting used his experience as an automotive R&D engineer and fishing analogies to explain and illustrate the types and benefits of market research at LA2M on 10-12-11.  He emphasized that good market research involves “asking the right person, the right question in the right way.  


When he consults with businesses, he asks why businesses do what they do and what problems they are trying to solve.  He said he uses an “open minded 4 year old mentality” to listen to companies and their customers.  The 3 types of market research he focused on were number gauge surveys, focus groups and individual interviews. 

He likened gauge surveys to fishing with dynamite.  He explained that the results are often too generic to be helpful.  He noted that gauge surveys can offer large volumes of data, but there are too many opportunities for error or misinterpretation.  


Walker compared focus groups to a small fish taking a worm off a hook but not taking the hook.  He said that focus groups can be hard to facilitate because some participants can dominate the discussion.  Walker said the benefit of using focus groups is that the process can yield good date because it is detailed.  


Walker views fly fishing and individual surveys as having some similarities.  With fly fishing, the person fishing focuses on one fish at a time.  With interviews, the data gathering is one customer at a time.  He noted that the questions should be specific but open ended to yet the most information.

He emphasized that no matter which process a company decides to use, the research must be carefully planned, with questions based on what the company needs to know.  The company doing the research needs to understand each methodology to get applicable and useful results.  He recommended that company research teams be made up of no more than 6 and include both internal and external individuals.  The research team members must be open minded and willing to learn. 

Walker stated that the customer is the best source of information for problem definition.  When companies know and understand customer problems, the solutions become obvious.  Obvious solutions lead to great products.  Great products sell better.  There is less stress, money and time in the development process and fewer failed projects.  He explained that the customer is the expert in the problem and the business can the expert in the solution. 

Walker recommended that businesses find a market research method that is perfect for their needs and then listen to the customer.  He explained that companied don’t exist, people do.  “We take care of human beings.  The more we know the better we serve them.” 

Mobile in the B2B World

David Proegler of Latitude Consulting Group illustrated the explosion in mobile web traffic and explained the current and future impact of mobile on B2B.  Proegler pointed to the I Phone as the device that changed everything for mobile.  


By making the user experience accessible for the average consumer, the I Phone drove the mobile smart device flood and the ensuing tidal wave of mobile web traffic.  According to Proegler, the I Phone created the expectation that access to information should be instant. 

Proegler noted that mobile devices in B2B are pervasive.  Based on research, he stated that over 50% of internet requests are from mobile smart devices.  Proegler used the example of traffic to www.mooreheadstate.edu as an example of the flood of mobile device internet usage.  


In a single year, mobile device traffic to that website increased 4000% and the number of OS increased from 3 to 15.  He explained that it’s not just students that expect full mobile access to information.  In the business setting, employees expect it as well.

Using the automotive sales context as an example Proegler called mobile device use “a new way to engage” for the sales person to be better able to meet the needs of the customer.  With instant access to model stats and inventory, the sales person would be more efficient in delivering information and sales.  He stated that all aspects of a car sales and service operation could benefit from mobile information access.

Proegler explained that there are generally four types of websites when analyzed in regard to mobile interface.  Those are: Mobile Failure, Mobile Focus, Mobile Friendly and Mobile First.  Mobile Failure is too complex for mobile device access.  Mobile Focus supports popular devices in the commonly used areas of a website but not when diving deeper in the site.  Mobile Friendly offers a site wide mobile experience which is optimized as well as concise.  Mobile First is a website designed from the outset with the mobile user in mind.

Proegler suggested that for businesses to migrate their website to a mobile friendly format they need to take some time and analyze their B2B site usage and user base.  A business should also review its application portfolio, work with maturing their site framework and plan their strategic direction for mobile.  He stated that mobile can change the way that business is done both with customers and within a business.

Interrupt The Pattern

Joe Marr of Sandler Training has seen his share of challenges in business over the last decade.  He opened his doors on September 10, 2001 and, as we all have, has seen 10 years of rocky economy ever since.  In his recent LA2M presentation “The Economy is Not for Wimps” Marr gave a snapshot of better thinking and techniques for making sales happen in tough times.

Marr pointed out that most people in sales got there by accident and that regardless of our job, we are all selling.  He described sales as fundamentally a one on one interaction between the sales person and the buyer.  It’s an interaction that few institutions of higher learning include in their curriculum.  It’s also a profession that has a pretty shady image. 

According to Marr, sales people deal with the “battle between their ears”.  That includes the negativity about that line of work and using the economy as an excuse for a lack of sales.  Marr noted that about 77% of human behavior is “programmed” and we are culturally programmed to avoid and distrust sales people.  Marr stated that it’s not that no one is buying, it’s that we need to adapt to get more of the pie.

Marr explained that buyers can prevent sales people from providing important and relevant information by being wary, not explaining their needs and avoiding follow up conversations with sales people.  In turn, sales people under serve themselves and their clients by offering general, unsuitable or incomplete quotes based on a lack of information.  This “free consulting” is one path from the fork Marr describes as “Wimp Junction”.

For sales people to be “good stewards” of their own and the buyer’s business interests, sales people need to utilize a new, consultative system.  According to Marr, sales people need to “interrupt the pattern” with new ground rules.  When the sales person lets the buyer know that it’s “OK to says no” for either party if products and needs don’t match, the client is better able to relax and share pertinent information.

The sales person needs to determine if his products offer the client a compelling reason to change and if the client is willing to make the time and money investment needed to utilize the sales person’s products.  Only if the products meet the buyer’s criteria should a sales person offer a proposal.  The sales person needs to understand what a buyer needs, why they need it and what the consequences of a successful transaction are for client.

In conclusion Marr asked “Are you sucking up with happy ears, hearing only what you want to hear or are you creating mutually healthy relationships” with your clients?  “Interrupt the pattern,” he advised.